Government to Increase Child Protection Officers by 60%... Operation of Specialized Child Abuse Call Center

Ando-geol, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is speaking at the 'Policy Meeting on Protection of Vulnerable Children' held at the Child Rights Protection Agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 15th. April 15, 2021.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] The government has decided to increase the number of dedicated personnel in local government child protection teams to 524 this year, an increase of about 60% from the original plan. In addition, a specialized counseling call center for early reporting and detection of child abuse will be operated.

On the morning of the 15th, Ando-geol, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, held a policy meeting on the theme of "Effective Financial Support for Vulnerable Child Protection Projects" at the Child Rights Protection Agency in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and gathered opinions from field experts, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The meeting was also attended by officials such as the Population and Child Policy Officer and the Child Welfare Policy Director from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Other attendees included Professor Jeong Ik-jung from Ewha Womans University and Dr. Ryu Jeong-hee from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

Based on the results of the meeting, the government judged that it is urgent to strengthen personnel, organization, and educational infrastructure to enable early identification of abused children and systematic provision of protection services, and decided to promptly promote related projects by reallocating existing budgets in the first half of the year. First, personnel within the existing Health and Welfare Counseling Center will be supplemented to operate a 24-hour child abuse specialized counseling call center.

Additionally, the number of dedicated child protection personnel will be increased by 60%, and customized education programs will be operated through dedicated officials for abused children. A department dedicated to training abuse response personnel will be established within the Child Rights Protection Agency, planning to provide education to 4,500 people annually.

Vice Minister Ando also stated regarding next year’s budget formulation, "The focus of child abuse prevention and protection projects should shift from the current simple protective functions such as shelter provision to support programs for stable family reintegration and recovery," and added, "We will integrate and reorganize related projects currently carried out separately through general accounts, crime victim protection funds, lottery funds, etc., to maximize the efficiency and synergy effects of financial support."